Lotus Icebreaker

Gawd, what a long day it's been. Up early, early, head out to collect Kristi here in Seattle, then up to South Everett to get Ed, then North Everett to get Rocky, had to leave the dog boyz home. We were all part of a V12 crew for the Lotus Icebreaker outrigger race. For V12 they take two OC6 hulls and lash them together, very stable, very heavy, potentially very fast. They ran 5 heats of 6-V12, do you realize how many people that is??? That's 72 paddlers per heat!!! That means there were over 300 lunatics paddling out in the bitter cold and snowy, rainy conditions! I'm pretty sure we all had a great time, too. The venue was beautiful, the race was about 6 km, and Sail Sand Point took first in our heat, we were challenged by another crew for the entire race, we beat them by only 6 seconds. We didn't take first overall, but I'm still happy with our results. A full third of our crew hadn't raced before. And one of our crew never made it to the race, got lost on their way and thankfully we were able to pick up someone who had steered a boat in the previous heat.

After the race 8 of the crew (& their entrouages) went out to Dim Sum in Richmond for lunch. Mahalos to Ernie and everyone who ordered the food. It was all good, although I wasn't compelled to try the tripe or the chicken legs. I was particularly fond of the red bean pancakes for dessert, but then sweets are my favorite. Fed, dry, and warm (mostly) it was time to head south again. The boarder crossing was quite painless, only 6-8 cars in front of us. Dropped Rocky at his house, went to Costco to fuel up, dropped Ed at his car, and Kristi moved into the front seat for the last leg of the trip. We were just chatting when she said 'wouldn't it be great to go to Olympus Spa right now?' The idea of those hot tubs, steams rooms, and hot dry rooms sounded excellent to me as well and since we were still north of the spa it wouldn't even be out of our way! I had a neighbor to take the boyz out for a potty break so I had a little flexibility in my return time.

We got to Olympus a few minutes later, paid our way and headed in to hit the hot relaxation. We moved from the different temperature baths to the steam room and dry sauna, I went off to the salt room and the elvan stone room and then back to the hot tubs. Ladies, I highly recommend going, it's free on your birthday! Guys, a gift certificate here for that special woman in your life would be an excellent idea. I've had the Korean Body Scrub, it's wonderful, refreshing, invigorating, and your skin is so soft afterwards. We spent a couple of hours warming up and soaking away the tired muscles, it was great.

I got home a little before 8 pm to be greeted by the dog boyz, so utterly relieved that I had not forsaken them, that I had come home again. They worry so, well, Gus does anyway. They have been extra clingy all evening, having been neglected all day they feel they are deserving of extra loves, which they are. So enough for now, gotta go love on da boyz.